Digital Mobile Technologies to study Tuberculosis: A Multi-disciplinary Program

项目摘要 根据世界卫生组织(WHO)的数据，全球结核病负担在2000年达到顶峰，并已 此后以每年2.0%的速度下降。尽管这一进展令人鼓舞，但结核病仍然是一个主要原因。 每年有140多万人死于这种疾病。此外，低收入和中等收入国家 尤其是在撒哈拉以南的非洲和东南亚，结核病的负担不成比例地高。 与世界其他地区相比。这项建议的总体目标很简单：减轻 撒哈拉以南非洲的结核病，特别是乌干达。为了实现这一目标，我们认为我们需要新的指标 对于导致采取可行步骤减少传播或防止感染进展的结核病负担 为了疾病。我们还需要更好的方法来管理这种疾病，确保适当地坚持有效的治疗。 治疗方案以达到预期的临床效果。目前的提议是建立在数字移动 那些没有考虑到健康目的而开发的技术，可能会被用在富有想象力和新奇的领域 提供有关结核病传播、感染和疾病的有用信息的方法。事实上，在过去 十年来，我们开发了一系列研究项目，使用支持GPS的蜂窝电话元数据 手表和智能手机视频应用程序，以研究关于坎帕拉和 更广泛地说，乌干达。这些项目生成了大型、复杂且相互关联的数据库，需要 高水平的量化技能和复杂的管理和分析。然而，设计研究的专业知识 而分析这些类型的数据目前依赖于来自不同学科的一小群研究人员，例如 流行病学、地理学、网络科学、计算、机器学习和人工智能，其中 其他。为充分发挥数码流动科技在量度有用健康资讯方面的潜力，我们 建议建立一支具有跨两个或更多学科专业知识的关键数量的研究人员 用新方法研究结核病顽固性长期存在的问题 在非洲。 为了在乌干达创造这一临界数量的研究人员，我们提出了以下具体目标：1.培养两名 在格鲁吉亚大学(UGA)学习流行病学的乌干达博士前实习生，其中一个特别关注 结核病的地理学与其他以机器学习和人工智能为重点的增强 数字坚持技术；2.Makerere大学每年培养两到三名硕士生 通过支持他们的硕士论文研究与结核病和地理，计算机科学， 或现代数码技术；3.进行非学位培训，以建立和加强在 数字移动技术与结核病--有关专题的年度休会短期课程， 每月在乌干达卫生学会举办研究研讨会和现代数字卫生技术专题讨论会 科学家年会。

Project Summary According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global burden of tuberculosis peaked in 2000 and has since declined by 2.0% per year. Although this progress is encouraging, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death, as over 1.4 million people die per year of the disease. Moreover, low- and middle-income countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia bear a disproportionately high burden of tuberculosis compared to other parts of the world. The overarching goal of this proposal is simple: to reduce the burden of tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular Uganda. To reach this goal, we believe that we need new metrics for tuberculosis burden that lead to actionable steps to reduce transmission or prevent progression of infection to disease. We also need better ways to manage the disease by ensuring proper adherence to effective treatment regimens to achieve desired clinical outcomes. The current proposal is built upon the premise that digital mobile technologies, that were not developed with health purposes in mind, may be leveraged in imaginative and novel ways to provide useful information about tuberculosis transmission, infection, and disease. Indeed, over the past decade, we have developed a portfolio of research projects using cellular telephone metadata, GPS-enabled watches, and smartphone video apps to study central questions about tuberculosis persistence in Kampala and Uganda more broadly. These projects have generated large, complex and interconnected databases that require a high level of quantitative skills and sophistication to manage and analyze. Yet, the expertise to design studies and analyze these types of data currently lies in a small group of researchers from diverse disciplines, such as epidemiology, geography, network science, computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, among others. To realize the full potential of digital mobile technologies in measuring useful health information, we propose to build a critical mass of researchers with expertise across two or more disciplines who are dedicated to applying new methods to study the longstanding and stubborn questions about the persistence of tuberculosis in Africa. To create this critical mass of researchers in Uganda, we propose the following Specific Aims: 1. To train two Ugandan pre-doctoral trainees at the University of Georgia (UGA) in epidemiology, one with a special focus on geography of tuberculosis and the other with focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance digital adherence technology; 2. To train two to three master’s students per year enrolled at Makerere University by supporting their master’s thesis research in topics related to tuberculosis and geography, computer science, or modern digital technologies; 3. To conduct non-degree training to build and strengthen research capacity in digital mobile technologies and tuberculosis through annual recess-term short courses on relevant topics, monthly research seminars, and modern digital health technologies symposia at the Ugandan Society of Health Scientists’ annual conference.